In an email to pilots of both fleets, Qantas chief pilot Captain Dick Tobiano said the redundancies form part of the airline's cost reduction program.

"We announced the retirement of the remaining B767 aircraft by early 2015 and the accelerated retirement of six older B747 aircraft by early 2016," he wrote.

Captain Tobiano says up until now, the airline had been able to manage pilot surplus on the fleets through the assignment of leave and leave without pay (LWOP).

"With the accelerated retirement of the B767 and B747 fleets and a number of pilots' LWOP periods set to expire, these options will still leave us with a pilot surplus that we'll no longer be able to manage only using the assignment of leave and LWOP," he said.

Captain Tobiano says the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) has been involved in discussions.

"I will consult further with AIPA this week on opening a targeted expression of interest in voluntary redundancy for B767 and B747 captains and first officers," he said.

"I will also be consulting with AIPA on the terms of the package."

Pilots' union working with airline to minimise loss of expertise

"Certainly in the long term it's much better to retain your younger, more junior staff who hopefully have another 30 years or so left with the airline, and to come up with a suitable VR package that encourages those at the top of the airline - who are within, say, five years of retirement - to leave first," First Officer Safe told the ABC's AM program.

"There's no doubt that these pilots that will be targeted are amongst the most experienced.

"[But] I certainly don't have any concerns about a lack of experience resulting from this - not at all.

"Many of the pilots who won't take the package or won't be targeted by the package are also some of our most experienced pilots."

Qantas has more than 2,000 pilots across its domestic and international operations.

"We have well over a hundred pilots, who were originally Qantas pilots and still are, operating as Jetstar pilots under leave without pay arrangement," First Officer Safe said.

"We also have some at airlines like Emirates and also some up in Asia at various other airlines on a leave without pay basis.

"So mechanisms like that have for the last few years allowed us to manage this surplus, but with the recent announcements and the profit downgrade and the confirmation of the 747 and 767 retirement, it's got to a point where those levers are no longer sufficient and the VR option becomes sensible."

It is anticipated that the exits of pilots would be staggered to correspond with network and fleet reductions.

"This is not a reflection on the hard work and commitment of our pilots, but the realities of our fleet plan and the realities we face," Captain Tobiano said.

First Officer Safe says, while the pilots' union understands the reasons for the offering of voluntary redundancies, Qantas needs to do a better job explaining its long-term plans.

"I think one of the most disappointing elements of the recent announcements is that there's been virtually no pathway shown to employees as to how we're actually going to turn this airline around and get it growing again," he said.

"There's been plenty of talk about the cuts that we're told need to be made and the cuts that are going to be made, but in my view there's been very little on what exactly all of these cuts are one day going to allow us to do.

"And I think that's been one of the hardest elements for the staff in general, not just the pilots. There hasn't been a light at the end of the tunnel shown to us."

Qantas says it will start discussions on the voluntary redundancies with the pilots' union this week.

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